Like the Rain, Part 1
by Frostblade83
Summary: A rainy day brings two of our favorite couples together.  NaruHina and SasuSaku.  Inspired by Clint Black's song by the same name.  Reviews are appreciated


Greetings,

Let me start out by saying that although I like Naruto, I am not a hard-core fan, so there may be a few inconsistencies. Please bare with me and enjoy the story.

And, of course, I do not own Naruto.

Like the Rain

Naruto Uzimaki set his hands into the proper sign and called upon the power of his most prized technique.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Puffs of smoke exploded all around the woods just outside of Konoha village. When it was all clear, the forest was filled with shadow clones. Naruto smiled to himself.

"Alright, sound off! One!"

And after that, all the clones began to call out numbers one by one. When they were all finished, the count had risen to 400. Naruto punched up into the air.

"That was fifty more than last time. And next time, I'll create fifty more than today. Believe it!"

Just then, Naruto felt something wet on the end of his nose.

"Hum?"

And then he noted the familiar sense of raindrops on his head.

"Ah man!"

Naruto quickly ended his jutsu and began to run back to the village of Konoha.

"I've gotta get back to the village before I end up like soggy ramen."

Hinata Huuga wandered along the path just outside the village gates. After participating in a training exercise with her team earlier that day, she had decided to take an afternoon walk. Even though she had heard there would be rain, Hinata had chosen to go anyway. Of course, she had the forethought to bring an umbrella with her. In truth, Hinata enjoyed the rain. A relaxing walk after a hard day made it all the more satisfying. She looked up at the sky and sighed with contentment.

"Well, time to go home," she said to herself.

She had just turned around and began walking back towards Konoha when she heard someone running down the path. Hinata turned around to see Naruto running towards the village.

"Aaagh! I'm so wet!"

"N-Naruto?"

Naruto looked up from his run.

"Hinata?"

"H-hurry. Over here."

Naruto changed direction and began to run towards her. As he approached, Hinata extended her arm slightly, bring her umbrella over to help cover Naruto's head. Naruto took a few moments to catch his breath. He looked back up at Hinata with his big beaming smile.

"Thanks alot, Hinata."

Hinata blushed.

"S-s-sure. I'm sorry you're already w-wet."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a handkerchief.

"Here. I-it's not much, but you...you can dry your face."

"Oh? Ok."

Naruto took the handkerchief and wiped his face before handing it back to her.

"Thanks again, Hinata. What are you doing outside?"

"Oh. I, uh, just wanted to go for a walk. What have...uhm...uh...you been doing today?"

"Just some training out in the woods. I'm on my way to meet Iruka-sensei for dinner at our Ichiruka's ramen stand. You wanna come?"

Although she wanted nothing more than to go with him, Hinata knew she was expected to return home for dinner.

"Uhm...no. I…I mean, I'm s-supposed to have dinner w-with my family tonight."

"Ok. In that case, I'll return the favor and carry your umbrella for a while."

"Oh no. That's alright."

"Aw come on, Hinata. You've helped me twice today. It wouldn't be very nice if I didn't do something for you."

"Ok."

She handed him the umbrella and they both walked back into Konoha together.

"I hope the Ichiruka's isn't too far away from your house."

"It's not a problem."

"That's good."

As they continued their way down the street, Hinata turned to look at Naruto before returning her gaze to the ground. She folded her hands and began tapping her index fingers together as she smiled to herself. She really didn't care whether or not the booth was far from her house. It gave her the chance to be with Naruto. Just her and Naruto.

"Thank you. Come again."

Sakura turned around and waved to the cashier. Team 7 had been given some free time following their last mission. Sakura had taken the time to help out around the house. Today, she had gone to the store to shop for groceries. She had managed to find everything her mother had written on the list except for low-sodium soy sauce . All that was left was to head for home. She had seen little of her teammates in the last couple of days. As far as Naruto was concerned, that did not bother Sakura in the least.

"Probably being lazy and sleeping in." she thought to herself.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was most likely devoting his time to training and improving his skills. She regretted most of all not seeing Sasuke since their last mission, but his drive and determination were two of the qualities that she admired most about him. Sakura sighed and stared dreamily up at the cloudy sky. Maybe when she was done helping around the house, she should see if Sasuke was out taking a break. Sakura returned her gaze to the street. It was then she realized she would not have to wait as long as she thought. Walking down the street ahead of her was Sasuke, head down and hands in his pockets.

"Cha-ching! This must be my lucky day, " Sakura thought.

"Sasuke! Hey, wait up Sasuke!"

Sasuke Uchiha walked casually down the street towards his home. In the days following his group's last mission, most of his time had been spent training and honing his skills. He had been devoting much of his efforts to striking multiple targets. Sasuke had spent the mornings at the throwing range practicing with shuriken. He had then taken a quick break for lunch, only to return to the range in the afternoon to work on throwing kunai. Sasuke's time had been well spent for the day, so he decided that he would hold back on the weapons training for a couple of days and work on improving his jutsu. For now, it was time to call it a day. If he wanted to be at full strength, he needed to get plenty of rest. Besides, it was suppose to rain in the afternoon and he did not want to be caught in it after leaving the range.

"Sasuke! Hey, wait up Sasuke!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Sakura Haruno. It wasn't that he disliked his teammate, but why did she always insist on flirting with him so much? It was annoying. If she spent as much time training as she did trying to get his attention, her skills would probably exceed Naruto's. Sasuke had to admit that he did find Sakura attractive, but first and foremost, he had to focus on his training . There would be time for love and girls later, he reasoned with himself. In any case, he was done for the day, so there was no reason to be cold to her. He turned around to see Sakura running to catch up with him, a large grocery bag clutched in each of her hands. When she had caught up to him, she gave him a slight bow.

"Afternoon, Sasuke."

"Hi."

"So, how..uh..how have you been?"

"Fine. You've been shopping?"

"Yeah, just some groceries. Have you been taking time to rest since our mission?"

"Not really. I've been practicing at the range."

"Really? H-how's that been going?"

"Not too bad. I keep missing the bullseye with one or two shuriken."

"How many are you throwing?"

"Eight shuriken at four separate targets."

Sakura almost fell flat on her face. He was upset because he missed with only one or two shuriken?! She would have done well to even hit the targets half of the time if she threw that many shuriken at four targets.

"Hhm?"

Sasuke abruptly turn his face up to the sky.

"Wha-what is it?" Sakura asked.

As she looked up at the sky, a small drop of water fell into her eye, forcing her to blink. It was followed by another on her cheek. And another. And another.

"Oh no! It's starting to rain!"

Sasuke swept his gaze up and down the street. About two buildings down on the right, he saw that there was a wide awning and a bench in front of a convenience store. He grabbed one of the grocery bags from Sakura, who looked at him in surprise.

"Come on."

Sakura looked in the direction Sasuke was running and quickly understood. The two genin dash down the street and ducked under the awning. They set the groceries beside the bench and sat down.

"We can wait here until the rain dies down," said Sasuke.

"Guess we have no choice," replied Sakura sounding sullen to Sasuke, when inside, she was actually grinning from ear to ear.

"ALL RIGHT!!! Finally, just me and Sasuke. Alone. Together." Sakura thought to herself.

She couldn't have asked for a better setup. Even though she was alone with Sasuke, for a long time, she couldn't work up the courage to do anything accept occasionally glace over at him, her hands set firmly in her lap. Sasuke, in the mean time, simply stared out at the rain. He hadn't even glanced over her way, seemingly preoccupied with whatever he was thinking about. Sakura sighed and stared down at her feet.

"Come on. You're finally alone with him. This is no time to be shy." she thought.

Slowly, quietly, Sakura began to scoot closer to Sasuke's side of the bench. If Sasuke had noticed her movement, he wasn't showing any interest. The rain was coming down in earnest now, the water forming a small stream as it ran down the side of the street. Sakura groaned inwardly to herself as she felt her eyelids becoming heavy. Why did the rain always make her feel sleepy? Sakura leaned back and yawned, taking care to cover her mouth with her hand. For whatever reason, this actually got Sasuke's attention.

"You ok?" he asked.

"Don't know. I just seem to feel really sleepy when it rains like this."

"Hmm. I se..."

Sasuke stopped mid-sentence as he felt something heavy fall on his shoulder. The turned to see Sakura leaning against him, her eyes closed and her breathing very steady.

"Asleep?"

Sasuke sighed. Oh well, he wouldn't be going anywhere soon, for it was still raining very hard. He leaned back against the bench and continued to stare out at the rain. It wasn't too long before Sasuke himself began to feel quite drowsy, the rain pouring down onto the awning making him sleepy as well. He could barely keep his eyes open. He turned to glance at Sakura, who was still napping peacefully on his shoulder. Raising both eyebrows as if to shrug, Sasuke gently laid his head on top of Sakura's. Soon, he too had fallen fast asleep as the rain continued to beat down on the awning from above.


End file.
